Sentencing for Salyer pushed back

Sentencing for Scott Salyer, a Pebble Beach agriculture company owner who pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and price-fixing charges, has been pushed back to November.

Salyer, 56, was to appear in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Sept. 5 for a probable prison sentence.

He pleaded guilty in March in a plea deal that called for a four- to seven-year sentence. Court documents said sentencing was rescheduled for Nov. 27 because of the workload in the federal probation office.

Salyer formerly owned a number of farm companies, including SK Foods LP, a leading tomato processing company based in the Central Valley.

Federal prosecutors accused Salyer of operating the business as a criminal enterprise by bribing buyers for major customers, trying to fix prices and selling substandard product at inflated prices.

Salyer was arrested and charged in February 2010 after a five-year investigation into food-industry corruption.

His plea last spring ended the case, which was dubbed Operation Rotten Tomato, that netted other SK Foods employees and buyers for major food companies.

In pretrial proceedings, the defense sought to portray Salyer as victim of a former employee who secretly gave federal investigators privileged information about SK Foods. Defense motions to suppress evidence were rejected by the court.